Area of wildfires in Russia decreased by 6% over last 24 hours

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. The area of wildfires in Russia has decreased by 6% over the last 24 hours and now constitutes 65,900 hectares, the third of this territory in Buryatia, the Aerial Forest Protection Service said on Monday.

"As of 12am Moscow time on 23 May 2016, a total of 116 wildfires on the area of 65,902 hectares was active on the territory of the Russian Federation, including 16 wildfires in forests on the area of 23,694 hectares (in Buryatia)," the service said.

The state of emergency was declared in Buryatia, as well as in Zabaikalsky Krai (with almost 20,000 hectares of wildfires) and Amur Region (with over 17,000 hectares of wildfires).

Almost 600 firefighters and paratroopers from the Aerial Forest Protection Service are currently extinguishing wildfires - 231 in Buryatia, 216 in Zabaikalsky Krai, and 128 in the Amur Region.